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Well now you're bordering the province of Bohemia itself! I think those former arch-enemies will never be a problem again.

They would still have the potential to be somewhat dangerous if I'm preoccupied (even with their bad tech, they're still very large and have a decent enough army size) but they haven't seemed very interested in fighting me. They never DoW me regardless of my other enemies, and whenever the righteous gentlemen launch their scheduled offensive war against them, they just want peace ASAP. If I didn't know, I wouldn't be sure they're the bad guys here. I'm still looking to weaken them, as can be seen in the update...

Originally Posted by blsteen

The Deutchland seems to have a mighty fleet. That is interesting. And handy, of course.

Yeah, ever since I got Press Gangs I've been working on it, and it's shaping up rather nicely by now. It is handy.

Originally Posted by Axelius

Seems you're pretty close to unifying Germany, what is it you're missing? Franken?

Yes, just Franken.

I saw your post (and therefore postcount) pretty much when you made it, so I'm glad to have pulled you out of such a long period of lurking.

Originally Posted by FinnishFish

Muahahahaa! More land = more goodies.
And happy-you-know-what-day. ^^

Cheers! Same to you even if it's a bit late. I had a pretty neat and out of the ordinary Independence Day really, I appeared on national TV. And no, not the evening's main event obviously, but the YLE (Finnish Broadcasting Company) Independence Day Concert.

(So if anyone feels like watching an hour long concert of semi-patriotic Finnish classical music - Sibelius and the like - with a bit of also Finnish pop sprinkled in, and catch a dozen five-second long glimpses of your favorite gentleman authAAR in the process, just say the word! No, I don't expect any takers but the option is there for any classical music enthusiasts or stalkers for the next day and a half before the link expires.)

The world was once again quiet and the people of Brunswick content. Until 1583, the only events of note were the excommunication of the king of Bohemia, the passing of general Hein and another election victory for Anton Ulrich Hattendorf.

Then Bavaria got back to its conquering ways of the past. Between September and December, the country annexed all of Switzerland and Würzburg in wars without a proper cause.

Hattendorf knew that there were several reasons to intervene. Such blatant aggression was not something that Brunswick ever looked kindly upon, and besides, the rightfully Brunswicker province of Würzburg should not be allowed to stay in Bavarian hands. War was declared in January 1584.

Transylvania and Scotland joined the war on Bavaria's side, but Great Britain dishonored their alliance with the Bavarians, probably having learned their lesson about messing with Brunswick.

General Schauseil was sent to Bavaria, while a new general, Otto Ickelrath, took an army to Scotland onboard Brunswick's transports. Like most of his family, Ickelrath proved to be a rather poor leader.

Würzburg and Bamberg were occupied before Schauseil met any resistance. Ickelrath won a major battle in April, but his army was in no condition to keep fighting and had to return to the continent. While he was technically victorious, this wasn't a moment of glory.

However, with Brunswick's fleet blockading Scotland's ports, the Scots were willing to give a small amount of money for peace in May.

At the same time, Schauseil met a proper army for the first time as he headed to Ansbach to protect the Brunswicker vassal against Bavarian aggression. The Bavarian king was soundly defeated in the province.

By August, Bavaria was occupied save for Switzerland and parts of Württemberg. That was enough for the enemy: the resulting peace agreement gave Brunswick Würzburg and Switzerland its freedom.

At the same time, something shocking happened: Austria finally succeeded in annexing Styria!

However, their joy was extremely shortlived. Milan conquered Lienz only a month later and the rest of Styria was again released.

For the year 1585, the Syndic worked on reforming Brunswick's imports and exports system. In many cities that took part in notable trade, customs officials were placed under one roof, thus making the processing more efficient.

February 1586 saw the annexation of Mazovia by Bohemia, much to Hattendorf's chagrin as Brunswick had fought for that nation's freedom earlier, and Denmark further hammered Sweden in March.

In the summer, Hattendorf won another election after his successful reforms while Castille forced Bavaria to release Wurttemberg. The nation was now weaker than before their sudden aggression.

But perhaps the most interesting news came from France: the French government had finally got the bickering religious groups under control. Time would tell whether or not this was too little, too late.

Generals Ickelrath and Schauseil died in quick succession, leaving Brunswick with no experienced leadership in 1588. With no wars on the horizon, nothing was done immediately to rectify this, but the army was expanded a little bit to compensate for a possible leadership vacuum in future conflicts.

And again, Hattendorf spent the next years on skillfully tweaking a policy here, a law there. This not only allowed him to be comfortably re-elected in the 1590 elections, but also made the country's economy stronger than ever.

Things got busier for Brunswick in 1591 as a resurgent Bohemia went a step too far. After their insolent annexation of Mazovia five years earlier, they now attempted to claim Brunswicker Neumark, and upon questioning about said claim their court only had harsh words for Brunswick's diplomats.

On these grounds, war was declared in May, both in order to free Mazovia once again and to contain Bohemian power. Generals Karl Georg Gruebel, Ernst Ferdinand Hehn and Andreas Ickelrath were promoted to handle the conflict. It was hoped that Andreas Ickelrath the younger would do a better job than his legendarily incompetent namesake did a century earlier.

The pivotal battle of the first part of the war took place in Erz late in the month as Hehn's Caracole regiments cut through Bohemian cavalry, causing major casualties to the largest force the Bohemians had near the Brunswicker border.

After this victory, Brunswick's armies were free to assault fortresses in the western part of Bohemia, only having to defeat minor enemy forces.

The east was a little bit more complicated: in the beginning, it looked like the sides would be stuck in a staring contest similar to the one that took place in the previous Brunswick-Bohemia war. However, Bohemian general Kliment Liberec made the mistake of dividing his troops in July, leading some of the men to attack Ostpreussen while leaving others behind in Trakai. Gruebel struck immediately, throwing his army's full force at both parts of the divided enemy in separate battles.

The defeats in Erz, Trakai and Ostpreussen proved debilitating for the Bohemians. By the time they could put together another army in September, all of the Bohemian heartland as well as Trakai and Vilna had fallen. To make matters worse, the new army, led by Bohemian king Ferdinand I, received the same treatment from Hehn as the one in Erz earlier.

Once again, the Bohemian knights were unable to stand against Brunswick's more modern troops.

Late next month, Ferdinand I could see the writing on the wall: the state of his armies was pitiful, Brunswick was pushing far into his lands and as a result, he had no choice but to give in to Hattendorf's demands. In addition to giving up the ridiculous claims on Brunswicker territory and releasing Mazovia, Bohemia was forced to give the Hungarians their freedom. A large indemnity was also paid.

Hattendorf knew that the Bohemians had a strong tendency to quickly recover territory lost in such a way, but one could always hope for an exception to the rule. Besides, causing Bohemia to recover instead of growing bought time - time that Brunswick could use to get even stronger.

They would still have the potential to be somewhat dangerous if I'm preoccupied (even with their bad tech, they're still very large and have a decent enough army size) but they haven't seemed very interested in fighting me. They never DoW me regardless of my other enemies, and whenever the righteous gentlemen launch their scheduled offensive war against them, they just want peace ASAP. If I didn't know, I wouldn't be sure they're the bad guys here.

Maybe it's because they "trust us completely"?

I'm interested in what the next core on Bohemia will be; if it's Ratibor you'll cut off their capital from most of the country!

France got out of religious turmoil, but have they recovered from their implosion at all?

It's pretty cool how Brunswick expands like a gentleman, and the other German princes attempt to snatch what is not theirs and get slapped down. Does it seem likely to you that you'll get to unite the Brunswick lands? Bohemia and Poland are the most likely routes, but gaining cores there seems . . . unlikely.

I saw your post (and therefore postcount) pretty much when you made it, so I'm glad to have pulled you out of such a long period of lurking.

Hah, it's not even lurking, made the account way back when I got the first HoI and forgot about it, then I bought EU III recently and decided to get registered here again. Even had to make a new e-mail account with the same adress as my old one to be able to reset the password.

And with these wars I think it shows that Brunswick truly is the dominating power in central Germany, and with Milan giving Austria that blow to the nose it seems the old powers of the HRE are being replaced.

I'm interested in what the next core on Bohemia will be; if it's Ratibor you'll cut off their capital from most of the country!

France got out of religious turmoil, but have they recovered from their implosion at all?

Could be. Or they're just scared.

You'll see what the next core in Bohemia is in the update.

Not really - France has just been a mess. But they appear to finally be rebel free now that the religious situation is over and aren't in any wars currently, so they have a second chance.

Originally Posted by Omen

It's pretty cool how Brunswick expands like a gentleman, and the other German princes attempt to snatch what is not theirs and get slapped down. Does it seem likely to you that you'll get to unite the Brunswick lands? Bohemia and Poland are the most likely routes, but gaining cores there seems . . . unlikely.

The gap does look big but the shortest distance is in fact only two provinces, there are over two centuries left and I can get boundary disputes from both directions, so it's definitely not out of the question. But not guaranteed of course, as anything isn't guaranteed with the restrictions I have in place. I actually have no idea how Brandenburg got Riga, but I'm sure glad that they did. The Baltic holdings have made this more interesting (an additional theater for wars and the added "goal" of uniting the lands) and the country stronger.

Originally Posted by Axelius

Hah, it's not even lurking, made the account way back when I got the first HoI and forgot about it, then I bought EU III recently and decided to get registered here again. Even had to make a new e-mail account with the same adress as my old one to be able to reset the password.

And with these wars I think it shows that Brunswick truly is the dominating power in central Germany, and with Milan giving Austria that blow to the nose it seems the old powers of the HRE are being replaced.

I see, makes your join date look nice anyway. Yeah, if it wasn't obvious before that Austria isn't having a very good game, it sure is now...

Originally Posted by Avindian

Another great installment!

Thanks!

Originally Posted by FinnishFish

It seems that you're the only "superpower" in HRE currently..
+ What were you playing over there??

You could say that. When someone tries to grow large, I tend to rip them apart pretty quickly.

I'm a cellist, it was just a freelance gig in the symphony orchestra there. So, I took part in most of the "show".

Originally Posted by Athalcor

Wow, you hammered Bohemia pretty badly!

Sure did. Let's see if this hammering keeps them down any longer than the earlier ones...

Originally Posted by Tyrberg

question is if you will have the opportunity to be germany or preussia first.
one province against two provinces more, if I remember correctly. would be fun with preussia, but less likely..

It´s fun to read your progress and about how you can succed even with your houserules..

Glad to hear that! Yeah both are pretty close as far as territory goes, but for Prussia I'd have to move my capital and culture shift, which would probably require releasing vassals as well to get the correct dominant culture. In some other game that might be smart to do just for the awesome decision, but it feels a bit illogical here. I admit I've given it some thought, but I just don't think it fits the story.

The next years saw yet more warfare in the German region. Austria and Styria fought another inconsequential war, while Bavaria got aggressive again, conquering Wurttemberg in 1593 and Baden in 1594.

In Brunswick, life was happy and prosperous as usual. As such, A.U. Hattendorf had no trouble winning the 1594 Syndic election, especially after introducing some new laws that brought more liberties to the people.

In fact, things were so good that Flanders wanted to join the nation properly in November. The Syndic naturally agreed.

The spring of 1595 featured minor military reforms as artillery regiments - already a mainstay in many of Brunswick's heartland armies - were brought to the northeast as well.

Statesman Gruebel and collector von Rhein died late in the year, and this led to a full scale rearrangement in the court as theologian Talken was also sacked to get a fresh start. Castilian commandant Hermenegildo de Figueroa, Provencal collector Folquet de Saint Victoret and natural scientist Balthasar Van Gulik from recently integrated Flanders were brought in.

This was the first time since collector Lamberti's disloyalty in 1412 that Brunswick had trusted a foreigner in a court advisor position. It is possible that Hattendorf feared that the recent peace and stability would lead to complacency, something that people coming from the outside could perhaps spot and avoid.

De Figueroa, in particular, was a very good choice. As early as in the spring of 1596, he revamped Brunswick's military education and promotion policies, producing better leadership and more effective armies in the long run.

It was fortunate that de Figueroa worked quickly on his improvements, as the old man's health began to worsen late in the year and he perished in November. The court position was filled by Danish collector Knud Hardenberg.

Hattendorf got re-elected again in 1598, while news from America reached the court early next year. Rumors told of a mythic native city with serious bling-bling, unfortunately later corrupted by the Castilians.

Things got more interesting for Brunswick in July 1600 as Hattendorf managed to convince the Saxons of Oberlausitz that they'd be better off as Brunswicker citizens rather than Bohemian ones.

War was declared immediately in order to save the people.

This time, Bohemia's forces were concentrated in the west. This gave new general August Heinrich Brach free reign in the northeast, and Vilna and Podlasia were already taken in August. In fact, Brach was put on a boat to the Brunswicker mainland - a capable general couldn't be kept in a region with no resistance when there were battles to fight elsewhere.

And the west was indeed more tricky. General Ickelrath's army in Oberlausitz had to survive overwhelming odds to keep Brunswick's position on enemy soil. It is believed that the locals helped in this, giving information on the terrain and in general providing any aid they could.

General Gruebel also had to face an enemy army that outnumbered his own in Lublin, but in this case the difference wasn't as pronounced, enabling more advanced Brunswicker equipment and tactics as well as Gruebel's good leadership to save the day.

Later in the year, battle results were more varied. General Brach was able to push into Erz and Hehn successfully protected Brunswick's siege in Bohemia, causing heavy casualties in the process, but Ickelrath's forces were finally driven out of Oberlausitz.

However, Bohemia's strength in the west led to a weakness in the unprotected east. While western battles were close and Brunswick wasn't able to properly occupy any enemy land, forces were driving down from Prussia and causing havoc in Bohemia's lands.

In the last days of October, Hattendorf was able to convince the Bohemian king that it was only a matter of time before those troops would reach the primary front, trapping the Bohemian armies between threats from all sides. Peace was signed, with Bohemia ceding Oberlausitz - which indeed never fell in the war - and paying a heavy indemnity.

I wonder if it would be theoretically possible to achieve a wc under your houserules...

I'd say yes, if you were lucky enough that you get the "boundry dispute" every other day and that one of the vassals that you got with a mission colonised a province in America (and same with every non connected landmass + a minor who is at 2 wars, one with you and one with Great Britain, you vasalise him and later he manges to snach a province on both England and Ireland before you diploannex him with a mission...)

In other worlds, as probable as some pagans on a backwater Japanese island conquering the world. Just won't hapen

I wonder if it would be theoretically possible to achieve a wc under your houserules...

I'd say yes, if you were lucky enough that you get the "boundry dispute" every other day and that one of the vassals that you got with a mission colonised a province in America (and same with every non connected landmass + a minor who is at 2 wars, one with you and one with Great Britain, you vasalise him and later he manges to snach a province on both England and Ireland before you diploannex him with a mission...)

In other worlds, as probable as some pagans on a backwater Japanese island conquering the world. Just won't hapen

Isn't not colonizing another houserule of his? That'd make it hard to conquer the areas that need colonizing...